Irma Thomas, Cyril Neville, Big Freedia, Cupid & The Dance Party Express Band, Dawn Richard and HaSizzle with TBC Brass Band will be among the headliners at this year’s French Quarter Fest when it returns to the Quarter and riverfront April 16-19.
French Quarter Festivals, Inc., on Tuesday announced the initial music and culinary lineups for its 2026 edition as well as plans for an expanded footprint, some stage changes and a new 5K run. The free four-day festival is all about the music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana, and it will host more than 300 performances at stages across the neighborhood and along the Mississippi River, from outside Audubon Aquarium to the new Goldring Woldenberg Riverfront Park at Governor Nicholls Wharf.
The announced music lineup also includes Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars, Kermit Ruffins & The Barbecue Swingers, Charmaine Neville, Flagboy Giz and The Wild Tchoupitoulas, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Sweet Crude, Amanda Shaw, Perservation Brass and The Soul Rebels.
Grammy-winning bluesman Bobby Rush will play the French Quarter Fest for the first time as will Dawn Richard, Cuban-born pianist Victor Campbell & Timba Swamp, Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. & The Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band and LSD Clownsystem, the clown-themed LCD Soundsystem tribute band. Pianist Kyle Roussel also will make his festival debut with his Church of New Orleans set.
More performers will be announced in March, the festival said.
There will be dozens of local food vendors at the festival, including Chicken’s Kitchen, Vaucresson Sausage, Ms. Linda the Yakamein Lady, Thai Nola, Southern’s, Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House and Loretta’s Authentic Pralines. And the culinary stage will again host live cooking demonstrations and panels focused on regional cooking traditions.
The festival’s footprint this year will now include Goldring Woldenberg Riverfront Park, the former warehouse site in the lower Quarter at the foot of Governor Nicholls Street. The new green space will host the Pan-American Life Insurance Group Stage with four days of programming. Access to the park will be at the foot of Esplanade Avenue, near the French Market and New Orleans Jazz Museum.
The Jack Daniel’s Stage, which will host Irma Thomas, Big Freedia and Cupid & the Dance Party Express, also will move downriver to the Goldring Woldenberg Riverfront Park.
The Louisiana Fish Fry Stage, normally at the Jazz Museum, will this year move across the Quarter to the front of the Audubon Aquarium due to construction at the museum. The stage will include a mix of brass bands and DJs, including Big 6 Brass Band and DJ Poppa. The museum will continue to host the Songwriter Stage and the Loyola University Esplanade in the Shade Stage.
The House of Blues Voodoo Garden Stage will now have four days of programming and will host a FQF After Dark show on Thursday, April 16. The House of Blues also will have a VIP Lounge in the Jax parking lot.
The festival is introducing a 5K race this year, taking place through the French Quarter on Saturday, April 18. Registration is now open at runsignup.com/fqf5k.
French Quarter Fest is free to attend, but the fest also has a VIP passes with give access to private bars, air-conditioned restrooms and shaded seating. There also are parking pass and front-of-stage access passes. Fest Family VIP passes are $480 for the weekend or $160 for a single day.
The festival also has started a fundraising campaign, called $5 for Fest, to help cover excess production costs, organizers said. There will be QR codes around the festival that attendees can scan to donate if they feel inclined, and teams around the fest will be accepting donations. Attendees also can donate a tip when getting drinks at festival beverage booths.
Find more about this year’s French Quarter Fest at frenchquarterfest.org.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source bestofneworleans.com ’
